Waves Athletics

MALIBU, Calif. - Volleyball has a big presence this weekend at Pepperdine - both in Firestone Fieldhouse and down at Zuma Beach - while the men's tennis team has three home matches.

The men's volleyball team hosts Long Beach State and Cal State Northridge this weekend. The top-ranked women's sand volleyball team visits #3 Long Beach State on Tuesday before welcoming Loyola Marymount on Thursday. The men's tennis team brings #2 Oklahoma, San Francisco and #20 California onto campus.

Also, the baseball team plays four on the road, the women's tennis team opens up West Coast Conference play in the Bay Area, the men's golf team heads to Arizona and the track teams visit UC Irvine.

Thursday: vs. Long Beach State (Firestone Fieldhouse), 7 p.m.
Saturday: vs. Cal State Northridge (Firestone Fieldhouse), 7 p.m.
Tickets: Tickets for home matches cost $8 for adults and $5 for alumni, children, seniors and students. Tickets are free for Pepperdine students, faculty and staff with a valid Pepperdine ID.
Multimedia: Pepperdine's home matches will be broadcast online via WaveCasts. GameTracker live stats will also be available.
Promotions: Fans that follow @PepperdineMVB on Twitter or like Pepperdine men's volleyball on Facebook can get tickets for just $3 on Thursday. Headbands will also be given to the first 300 students in attendance on Thursday night. A postmatch autograph session will take place after Saturday's contest.

After moving back into third place in the MPSF with road wins over UCLA and UC Santa Barbara last week, the #4 men's volleyball team entertains both #2 Long Beach State and Cal State Northridge inside Firestone Fieldhouse this week. The 49ers have won eight in a row and sit half a match ahead of the Waves in the MPSF standings with a 12-4 league record. Although the Matadors are 7-12 overall this season, they took Pepperdine to five sets in the January meeting in Northridge. Matt Tarantino leads the Waves into battle as the reigning MPSF Player of the Week, after putting down 22 kills while hitting .719 last week. The middle blocker has posted double-digit kill totals without committing a single attack error across the last three matches.

The #1 sand volleyball team, 5-0 after posting shutout victories over #5 Hawaii, Grand Canyon and Cal State Bakersfield over the weekend, gears up for a Tuesday afternoon matchup vs. 2013 AVCA national champion and #3-ranked Long Beach State. Although the 49ers won the last meeting, Pepperdine leads the all-time series 8-1. The Waves then return to Zuma Beach on Thursday to host local rival Loyola Marymount at noon. Pepperdine has yet to drop a single match while playing on the home sands of Zuma Beach this season.

BASEBALL

Tuesday: at UC Irvine (Irvine, Calif.), 6:30 p.m.
Friday: at Santa Clara (Santa Clara, Calif.), 6 p.m.
Saturday: at Santa Clara (Santa Clara, Calif.), 3 p.m.
Sunday: at Santa Clara (Santa Clara, Calif.), 1 p.m.
Multimedia: Audio of Tuesday's game will be available live on WaveCasts and a link will also be available for live statistics. Video and live stats for all three weekend games will be accessible through santaclarabroncos.com.

The baseball team crept into the rankings last week after four big non-conference wins, but stumbled out of the gates in WCC play, dropping two of three games to Pacific last weekend. The Waves will be looking to bounce back on the road against Santa Clara in a three-game conference series. Pepperdine also heads to UC Irvine for a Tuesday non-conference showdown as the Waves spend the entire week on the road.

Pepperdine prepares for another challenging and action-packed week, hosting three duals at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center. The Waves first host #2-ranked Oklahoma on Wednesday before resuming WCC play vs. San Francisco on Friday. A rematch between ITA Kick-Off Weekend finalists is on deck on Sunday, when Pepperdine takes on #20 California.

After ending Long Beach State's 19-match home win streak last week, the women's tennis team gets West Coast Conference action underway with road duals at San Francisco and Santa Clara this week. The Waves, 2013 WCC Tournament champions and 2013 WCC regular season co-champions, were picked to finish second in the league this season behind Saint Mary's. Pepperdine is a combined 22-0 all-time vs. the Dons and Broncos.

MEN'S GOLF

Friday-Sunday: at ASU Thunderbird Invitational (Tempe, Ariz.)
Multimedia: Golfstat will offer live scoring, with a link available at PepperdineSports.com.

Two regular-season events remain for the men's golf team, which heads out of state for the first time since early February. Arizona State's Thunderbird Invitational will be held over the weekend. The Waves are coming off an eighth-place finish at the San Diego Classic, where Kevin DeHuff had a career-best tie for 11th place to lead Pepperdine.

The Waves continue to set school records and personal bests and will look for more this weekend at UC Irvine's Spring Break Invitational. Lindsay Sheaffer broke her own record in the 800 meters by more than two seconds at the Ben Brown Invitational in Fullerton over the weekend, and Tori Occhipinti came .07 of a second away from setting the mark in the 100-meter hurdles.